


Don't ask me to leave him

by legolastariel



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Altered Scene, Happy/sappy ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-08-19
Packaged: 2018-08-09 19:30:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7814302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legolastariel/pseuds/legolastariel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Missing scene fic</p><p>How the scene of Daryl leaving with Merle in “The Suicide King” (3x09) should have been …<br/>There were so many moments in that scene, Rick and Daryl just looked at each other <i>that</i> way. Didn't you have the feeling, too, that there was <i>more</i>? </p><p> </p><p>  <i>“Merle is blood, but he was never family. Don’t you see that, Daryl? We are your family. We are the people who truly care for you. Please, don’t leave.”</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't ask me to leave him

**Author's Note:**

> I just had to write this. I always felt those two had more to say, the way they were looking at each other ... 
> 
> Sorry for any errors. English is not my mother tongue and I don't have a beta, so please bear with me. Hope you'll enjoy it. Let me know what you think, please!

**Don’t ask me to leave him**

 

“ ‘twas always Merle and I before this. Don’t ask me ta leave him.”

Rick feels his pulse rate pick up painfully, while he listens to the exchange between Daryl, Maggie and Glenn. 

Why did it have to come to this? Why did they have to run into Merle Dixon ever again, forcing this situation on them? Why was it never easy? 

_He’s family, I get that._

That’s what he had said to Daryl back in Atlanta, when they’d tried to find Merle, tried to save one of the people, who were not even worth saving, despite of all of them being an endangered species by now. But he had done it for Daryl. Merle was his brother, the only family the archer had left …

_“No”_ , Rick couldn’t help thinking, _“Merle is blood, but he was never family. Don’t you see that, Daryl? We are your family. We are the people who truly care for you. Please, don’t leave.”_

“Don’t.” This is Maggie, pleading with Daryl, and Glenn adds: “You’re serious? You just gonna leave like that?”

They play the Carol card now, remind him that she is waiting for him back home, but that doesn’t persuade him, either. He cares for Carol, they have become close friends, but not even the thought of how devastated she’ll be, if he doesn’t return, has him change his mind. 

“She’ll understand.”

He looks at Maggie, then Glenn, before his eyes come to rest on Rick, where they linger. Two sets of blue eyes holding the other’s gaze that moment longer than necessary, as though either man is waiting for something to happen. Yet it doesn’t. 

Rick’s thoughts are racing. Isn’t there anything, anything at all he can say or do to stop him? There has got to be something. This is wrong. This is totally wrong. If Daryl wants to belong, wants a family, he’s got one right here – and with people who love him. Merle never did and he never will. That man would have killled Maggie, Glenn and Michonne, and now he is standing there in the distance, waiting for Daryl to follow him, sneering, expecting to win this confrontation, because he’s never known it any other way. He gave the lead and Daryl followed. Just because Daryl has never known it any other way, either. 

_“Why do you still do what he wants? Why do you even care? He sure as hell doesn’t. He doesn’t want you by his side, because he’s feeling any brotherly  
affection – he doesn’t feel anything at all. He didn’t hesitate to beat you up only hours ago, he would have killed your friends, members of your family, without thinking twice, he tortured Glenn, yet still you choose him over us? What does it take to make you reconcider?”_

The moment to do or say anything comes and goes, and with a sad air on his face Daryl finally lowers his eyes and turns away with a parting nod. He starts walking away, while Rick’s heart is growing heavier with each step the archer puts distance between them

“No! Don’t! Stay with us … with me.”

Rick comes out of his stupor and hurries after Daryl, eager to catch up with him. The thought of Daryl leaving, of never seeing him again, is almost choking him. This can’t be happening.

“There’s gotta be another way.”

 

Daryl stops, looking Rick in the eyes, waiting. Several heartbeats, several deep breaths. Waiting. Waiting for Rick to say any more, but the younger man is at a lack for words. Again.

_“Say it! Tell him, for Christ’s sake, why he cannot leave.Tell him!”_ Rick starts urging himself silently.

“Don’t ask me to leave him”, Daryl repeats and starts walking away once more, Rick on his heels.

“We started something last night. You realize that.” 

Daryl turns around and looks at him. They both know how that sounds, although Rick is referring to them challenging the governor. Any yet … 

_“You know this is not what you were thinking about, Rick Grimes. Why don’t you find your balls and tell him? Tell him how you felt when you saw him in that arena and heard the governor announce a fight to the death between him and Merle? Tell him how your heart almost stopped, because you knew how that was gonna end. You know Daryl and you know Merle – there is no way Daryl would kill his own brother, even though Merle is a worthless bastard. He would have taken the beating, the way he probably did all his life, till the bitter end. Merle … I wouldn’t put it past him to sacrifice Daryl in order to survive. God, Rick, tell him! Tell him why you hugged him so close last night, when you were finally safely out of Woodbury. Show him the alternative. You can be a brother to him, if that’s what he wants. And more. So much more. You just need to find the courage to …”_

“No him, no me, that’s all I can say”, Daryl says, while he pulls his gear out of the trunk. “Take care of yourself. And take care of li’l asskicker. Carl …” His voice sounds slightly choked, when he mentions them. “He’s one tough kid.” 

There it is again. The long, lingering look, as though he was waiting for something, an air of hope on his face, his eyes silently imploring the younger man. Then he sighs and walks away. After only few steps he turns around once more, looks back to Rick, disappointed, before he heads towards his brother. 

“Daryl!”

Rick calls after him, but the archer doesn’t stop. He’s obviously made his decision. Only way he could decide, since he was offered no alternative. If anything, Daryl deserves honesty. He grew up with Merle and he knows his brother – there is no doubt why Merle wants Daryl to be with him. So Merle is not alone, so Merle has someone to order around, someone who does the dirty work and follows his lead. Daryl doesn’t expect anything from his brother – he knows there is no more in store for him than that.  
This isn’t what he wants. This isn’t what he could ever be happy with. And deep down inside he knows that Rick is his way out, his answer to every question, his source of happiness. But he needs Rick to acknowledge it, to say it out loud, to show some devotion. 

Just when he reaches Merle and the older man means to possessively place an arm around his shoulders, he hears hurried footsteps behind him and Rick’s voice once more.

“Daryl! Hold up. Please, hold up.”

The archer shrugs off his bother’s arm and turns around slowly, an expectant look on his face.

“Don’t leave”, Rick says helplessly, before he falls quiet, again at a lack for words.

Daryl’s eyes narrow.

“Told ya, Merle’s family. Only family I got.”

“Haven’t you heard what I said? You’re part of our family, too.”

“Not good enough, Rick. Merle’s blood and I got a family with him. So, gimme one good reason, why I should stay with you guys.”

“’cause we need you.”

Daryl cocks his head with a frown.

“Yeah? How? To go huntin’ and tracking and on runs? Guess, you can find another henchman for that.”

He is provoking Rick deliberately and Rick knows it.

“You know, it’s not that. We all care for you and we’d miss you and …”

“Rick!”

Rick’s heart skips a beat. He has learned to love the way Daryl says his name in this warning inflection whenever he is about to mess up and make a major mistake. And right now the message is clear: Cut the crap or I’m gonna walk away right now and I won’t come back.  
Rick takes a step closer to the archer and their eyes lock once more, holding the other’s gaze for several seconds.

“One good reason, Rick”, Daryl says challenging. 

The next second Rick has closed the gap between them, places his hands gently on either side of Daryl’s face and kisses him straight on the mouth.  
It’s an almost chaste kiss, soft, gentle and loving, and with a sigh Daryl responses instantly, while he wraps his arms around Rick. 

They don’t hear Merle’s derisive comment “I knew, you never grew any balls, Darylena”, don’t see Maggie’s and Glenn’s wide smiles. When they break apart again, they only see and hear each other, their hearts beating as one.  
Rick presses his forehead against Daryl’s and closes his eyes with a deep sigh.

“Is that a good enough reason?”

A smile spreads over the archer’s face.

“The best. And ‘twas about time.” 

Rick pulls Daryl into a tight hug and hides his face in the crook of his neck.

“I know”, is all he whispers into his ear, as though a great weight has been lifted off his soul. “Thanks for bearing with me.”

“You were worth waiting for.”

“Oh, please! Ya ain't cutting that sappy shit, I’ll shove yer head down the next toilet we come across, like when we was kids.” Merle rolls his eyes. “Ya serious, li’l brother? Ya gonna ditch yer ol’ brother Merle for Officer Friendly here?”

Reluctantly Daryl pulls back from Rick and casts his brother a glance, that is surprisingly calm.

“Yeah, unless you can gimme a better reason.”

“Hell, no. Ya wanna be the sheriff’s bitch from now on, be ma guest. Can’t top bumping uglies with Mr. Blue-eyes here. – Take care of yerself, baby brother.”

With that he turns around and walks into the woods, smiling to himself. And for once it is a genuine smile. 

 

Epilog:

Daryl never saw his brother again, never knew what became of Merle Dixon. And he never missed him, either, because Rick made him forget his past, all the abuse, humiliation and pain. Daryl used to say, he gained far more than he lost that day – a brother, a soulmate and a lover all in one. Someone who loved him with all his heart, for the first time in his life.

They returned home with Glenn and Maggie after Merle had walked away, took Michonne along to the prison and she stayed, until Hershel’s healing hands had helped her recover enough for her to be sent on her way. She, too, was never seen again. 

Soon after, the prison fell and the little group was back on the road, looking for a new refuge, a new home. They lost friends and loved ones on the way – Beth, Carol, Hershel – and found new ones. But the core, the heart of their group were always Rick and Daryl. They raised Carl and Judith together, remained faithfully at each other’s side and seemed to grow closer with each passing day, complimenting each other in every way until it was impossible to imagine one without the other. 

But then, it wasn’t necessary to imagine them separated, because they never were. No matter what the situation was, no matter what fate had in store for them, they stood together as one, the answer remaining unaltered:

“Don’t ask me to leave him.”


End file.
